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Author
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Topic: Cyan Tracks
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Brad Miller
Administrator
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Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99
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posted 07-18-2003 02:22 AM
Yup that's the problem Jack. Hmmmm, let's see how a common conversation with the money guys who have no clue as to what they are doing in the booth would go..........
"We need to get red readers for our projectors."
"Great."
"I didn't figure you would be excited about spending the money."
"I think it's a great idea. It's a great investment."
"Ok well it's a good investment, but it's not going to be a drop in the bucket since none of your projectors have been converted yet. The money will add up."
"That's no problem. What $20, $30 a screen, right?"
"Ah, actually it could cost a few hundred a screen."
"What? Why that much and why do you want to make the light red anyway?"
"It's because the studios are starting to make cyan dye soundtracks on their prints and they can only be read with a red light reader."
"Oh yeah I know all about that."
"Ok so then so how do you want to get the ball rolling?"
"On what?"
"On converting to red light readers."
"Wouldn't that screw up the picture?"
"I'm not talking about the xenon light being red."
"Oh I know, but wouldn't a red light reader make the picture all reddish looking?"
"No it wouldn't, because I am talking about the optical soundtrack reader."
"Yeah I know what you are talking about. I have plenty of experience in the booth you don't have to dumb it down for me."
"Ok then you know the consequences if we don't upgrade?"
"Yeah I know, but if we have the projectionists keep a close eye on things it should be fine."
"It doesn't quite work like that."
"Yes it does, I've gotten through runs with bad prints before by keeping an eye on things."
"This isn't an operator issue. It's a matter of the fact that we need a red light source for the soundhead to be able to read the sound off of the film so we can have audio on these new cyan dye based prints."
"Yeah I know all about that. I've done that before."
"Done what before?"
"Made cyan prints."
(Astonished at the bullshit at this point) "Great, so then you see why we have to do this."
"Do what?"
"Why we have to have red readers, so the exciter lamp in the soundhead will be a red light source so we will have sound."
"Yeah I know how it works. Remember I'm not stupid. All we need is a red light source."
"Well yes, in order to play these new evil cyan tracks we do."
"Ok then just go down to Wal*Mart and buy some of those red colored report covers and wrap it around the bulbs."
"It doesn't quite work like that."
"Sure it does, don't tell me it doesn't, I've done it before when we got cyan prints."
"No you haven't because they have never released cyan dye prints before now."
"Yes they have, I've played a lot of them over the years at different theaters and I know it works."
"Ok whatever, this doesn't change the fact that we are going to need the red readers."
"I've got a strand of multicolored Christmas lights. Maybe we could just use the red bulbs out of that?"
"Again, it doesn't quite work that way. We have to have the real deal if we want to play these films. It's a compatibility issue."
"This sounds like an under the table scam going on with the studios and the red light reader company. I'm going to have to call the studios and have lunch with them. I'll explain things and get them to pay for them since they are the ones changing the film to red exciter lights."
"That's not going to work either. The studios aren't putting forth a penny to any theater for this. Not even the big chains are getting funding to cover this."
"Maybe they will trade red readers for movie passes."
"Who? The manufacturers?"
"No, the studio people."
"Yeah, I'm sure they would just love a free pass to see their movie opening weekend."
"Oh no I would give them VIP passes. Those aren't good for the first couple of weeks."
"Ah, even better. Yes this is definitely a good idea."
"You sound sarcastic. You don't think it will work?"
"No" (Spoken deadpan, bored and sick of wasting my time explaining by now)
"Well I'll just make sure they send us normal prints and send the cyan prints to the other theaters."
"They aren't going to be making any more of the conventional redeveloped tracks. There will not be a dual inventory."
"So we won't have any sound at all when this happens if we don't spend this money, right?"
"No, the digital will continue to play fine, just so long as it doesn't drop out to analog."
"Why would it drop out?"
"Printing defects, lab splices, lots of things could cause a dropout."
"Well this fax I got from Dreamworks says that if you have digital sound you don't need to worry about having red readers. Besides the customers don't want to hear analog sound anyway, that's why we bought the digital in the first place. This whole conversation is a waste of time. We don't need those red readers."
...and so forth and so on. This may seem funny but I swear there are people out there like this! In fact, I know of one theater in particular that I am going to have this exact conversation with. I'll bet it's damn near word for word from what's above too.
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